Tag: nebraska

HHS audit finds that insurance co-ops are failing to generate profit The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently conducted an audit of 23 health insurance co-ops in the United States and found that the majority are struggling financially. These insurance co-ops were established by the Affordable Care Act to serve as non-profit alternatives to exchanges. The co-ops are operated by the federal government and provide consumers with a way to find relatively inexpensive insurance policies that may not be available through other markets. All but one co-op has…

Groups in Nebraska are promoting awareness of the state’s health insurance exchange Nebraska’s health insurance exchange is again accepting enrollees, but awareness may still be a problem when it comes to getting people to use the exchange. Last year, informing consumers about the state’s exchange and the services it offers proved to be a difficult task. Apart from the exchange’s technical difficulty, a lack of awareness among consumers meant that the exchange saw lower enrollment numbers than had been expected. This year, community groups are taking a new approach to…

Blue Cross announces that coverage will be restored to consumers despite contract dispute with CHI Health Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska has announced some changes to the coverage it provides to some of those that have been affected by a contract dispute with CHI Health. Some CHI Health hospitals have been out of the Blue Cross network since September of this year due to the expiration of an agreement between the two companies. Blue Cross and CHI Health have been unable to form a new contract due to…

NFBF petitions federal agency to implement insurance provision The Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation (NFBF) is petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement a new crop insurance provision that was introduced in the 2014 Farm Bill. The provision may help farmers in Nebraska recover from the loss of their crops due to powerful natural disasters that occurred during the spring of this year. Nebraska was struck by several hailstorms and tornadoes that caused significant agricultural damage, leaving many farmers in a precarious financial situation. 2014 is proving difficult for the…

Report shows that Nebraskans could be missing out on health insurance subsidies Residents of Nebraska have been slow to enroll in the state’s health insurance exchange due to technical difficulties and uncertainty concerning the options that are available to them. A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that approximately 239,000 people could find better coverage through the exchange, but only 500 people have enrolled into the exchange thus far. The report shows that many people are eligible for federal subsidies that could offset the cost of health insurance…

Health insurance advocates launch aggressive campaigns in the sate A new health insurance advocacy group has been formed in Nebraska. The group is called “Enroll Nebraska” and its primary goal is to raise awareness of the state’s health insurance exchange. The exchange is set to begin open enrollment on October 1 and thousands of uninsured residents could find the coverage they need through the program. The problem, however, is that many people do not know anything about the state’s exchange and could miss out on the opportunity to attain health…

Nebraska health insurance program found to be poorly managed Controversy has erupted in Nebraska as state auditor Mike Foley has discovered that millions of dollars in Medicaid-related health insurance payments have been mismanaged by Nebraska officials. The discovery could cause significant problems for the officials that would be implicated in mismanaging these funds, but could also mean trouble for consumers that are relying on the Medicaid program to receive the health insurance coverage that they need. These consumers could be put under financial strain as the issue is expected to…